Studies On The Actual Carrier

The actual carrier is a characteristic legal concept under the Hamburg Rules and Chinese Maritime Code. It is of great significance both in theory and in practice as to clarifying the complicated relations in the international carriage of goods by sea and resolving the problem of identification of carrier remaining in the Hague Rules. But the related cases and theories are undeveloped up to now. This paper makes a systematic study on the actual carrier on the basis of the provisions of the Hamburg Rules and Chinese Maritime Code by means of comparative law and construction of law. Chapter 1 analyses the concept of the actual carrier and gives a clear construction of the word "entrusted" and " the performance of carriage of goods". Related concepts in the draft of COGS A 1999 of USA are introduced in section 2 of this chapter. Chapter 2 studies the problem of identification of carrier. It inspects the origin of the problem and summarizes the basic rules of identification in different countries in which the Hague or Hague-Visby Rules apply. Notably, it analyses the same problem under the Hamburg Rules and Chinese Maritime Code and reaches the conclusion that the definitions of carrier under the two kinds of legal system are different in essence. Chapter 3 sums up the various cases of identification of actual carrier. It also sets forth the relations between the actual carrier and the combined transport. Chapter 4 elaborates the legal relations between the actual carrier and related parties, including the consignee, the shipper, the carrier and other actual carriers. The author hope to provide some valuable references for perfecting the legislation of the actual carrier and guiding the judicial practice.